What makes a growing church a growing church?
What ingredients were there that, when brought together and dumped into the mixing bowl of life, made a growing church?
Perhaps we can catch a glimpse of those ingredients in the 9th Chapter of Acts, vs 26-31. READ
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. When the believers heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown. The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Here, Luke focuses on the fact that the Church, those called out of by God, was in a state of change and development.
Things were really moving out and going ahead for them. The church was not just adding people --- it was literally multiplying in its effect within its community.
There, in Judea and down in Jerusalem, the congregations expanded.
In Samaria, the Church was growing up. In Galilee, the Church was moving ahead at full speed.
Luke, in this passage, shares with us the reasons for this growth.
I. A GROWING CHURCH IS A CHURCH AT PEACE.
Now, there may be external pressures and forces brought upon the Church.
This is especially true in the time of persecution when ungodly people in the world will seek to inflict a devastating blow upon the Church.
There will always be external pressures placed upon the Church. But, even in the midst of external pressure and persecution, the Church can be at peace.
We are very much aware that many churches throughout the country and the world have been riddled with strife and division.
They have aligned themselves in different ways and we have seen the churches split time and again. And those churches are not necessarily spiritually growing churches.
A growing church is a church that is at peace internally.
John 14:27 records Jesus’ words: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The growing church is a church that has experienced the very person of Jesus Christ and His grace and is aware of what it is to be at peace with Jesus.
All one needs to do is reflect on his or her own former sinful life, filled with sin, fragmented, bursting apart at the seams.
When we do that, we can see our lives brought back together because of the continuity and focus that Jesus brought to life and the peace experienced within the heart.
This is precisely what the corporate church – that is, the Church worldwide - needs to experience.
The perfect presence of Jesus is not going to dwell in the midst of people who are “at each other.”
God wants no part of a fragmented life. He only seeks to bring life into clear focus in unity.
So, a Growing Church must be a Church that is at peace.
John 16:33 – “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
In Paul’s writing to the Church in Rome, we see this key to this peace.
In the first verse of the 5th chapter, we read: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with god through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We are justified by faith; we are brought into an eternal peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ, and there is no way to experience in this life a peace that is lasting – apart from Jesus.
II. Secondly, A GROWING CHURCH IS A CHRUCH THAT IS BEING EDIFIED (STRENGTHENED – OR BUILT-UP)
It is a Church that is being instructed or taught. It is a Church that is learning what it is to be a Christian – a Christ follower.
It is a people seeking to learn so that they may function in life to honor God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
A Church that is a growing Church will lift up the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will teach the Word and be faithful to the Apostles’ doctrine.
It will communicate what God originally intended to share.
We need to realize that a church that is going to grow is a church that recognizes the need to be built up and to be taught the things of God.
We need to leave the elementary things in life and move on to those things that are going to bring us into the sight of God as approved workers in the Kingdom.
Paul told Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15
We ought to be ready to give reasons for the hope and faith that lies within us and to explain to others why Jesus Christ has made a difference in our lives.
Men and women are never going to come to know Jesus Christ apart from the Word.
Paul says in Romans 10:17 – “…faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”
A Church that is a growing Church is a church that is being edified, taught, and built up in the knowledge of the Lord.
III. Thirdly, A GROWING CHRUCH IS A CHURCH THAT WALKS IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
The very term “walk” denotes the concept of purpose as opposed to aimlessness.
There is direction in life that is to be followed.
We are to walk in the fear of the Lord – that is, with a deep reverence for the Lord and that which He has called us to do.
God is a God to be honored - He is a God to be revered.
We must remember that our whole duty is to fear God and to keep His commandments.
Once we have named God as our Father, and we have accepted His Son as Lord, then we have said to Him, “I am willing to follow You.”
God will bring every deed into judgment.
God is a God of love, but we are not saved by love but by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord Is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
A growing Church is a Church that walks in fear of the Lord.
And Finally
IV. A GROWING CHRUCH IS A CHURCH THAT WALKS IN THE COMFORT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We must develop lives that are consistent with the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and through us so that God might be honored as we live daily.
We need to move forward in boldness and with conviction, preaching the Gospel message of Jesus and witnessing of the power of the resurrected Christ.
If men and women are to be won in this world for Jesus, it is going to have to be done by God’s men and women – those who are called by God and who will be getting the job done.
And this will not be by the power within that person, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Russell Blowers tells of being called to a hospital some years ago to minister to one of the families of his Church. He had perfomed the marriage of these parents and had known the family for some time,. While at a picnic, one of the twin boys had tumbled over an embankment. They took him to the hospital. He had suffered an aneurysm deep within the recesses of the brain.
The little boy was put on life-sustaining equipment, and for 17 days, the family was there at his bedside, sharing with one another and praying.
Brother Blowers said that on the 17th day, the doctor made this statement – “Dr. Blowers, this little boy died 17 days ago. He has had his body kept by machines for 17 days, but he died 17 days ago. The doctor continued, “You see, the body lives to serve the head.”
We are the body of Christ. We live only to serve the Head ---- Jesus Christ! A growing church realizes and understands that it is HIM - Jesus Christ – who is to be served – and not ourselves.
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